A Royal Caribbean cruise ship has been forced to return to port. And, no, it has nothing to do with Hurricane Dorian.
This time, mechanical issues were the culprit as the Grandeur of the Seas returned to the port in Baltimore on Saturday.
The unidentified issues did force Royal Caribbean to drop off all passengers onboard.
The Grandeur of the Seas holds 2,446 passengers. It has 11 decks, was built in 1996 and refurbished in 2012. It departed on Saturday but hours later could again be seen docked in Baltimore's Port Covington.
"The Grandeur of the Seas has experienced a technical issue with its propulsion system and was forced to discontinue the sailing and return to Baltimore for necessary repairs," Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Melissa Charbonneau told The Baltimore Sun in a statement. "We understand this is an unfortunate inconvenience for our guests and sincerely apologize for the interruption in their travel plans."
She provided no further information to the Sun on Saturday, but this morning Cruise Hive reported that the Grandeur of the Seas suffered an engine issue and the entire five-day sailing has been canceled.
In a letter to passengers, Royal Caribbean apologized to guests and not only refunded the entire cruise fare as well as any pre-paid excursions, but gave each passenger a free future cruise.
The debarkation process was set to start at 6 p.m. on Sunday evening. Royal Caribbean also provided free phone calls and internet access so passengers could make travel arrangements.
It is unknown if the repair issues will be done in time for the grandeur of the Seas' next sailing, a nine-day cruise to Canada and New England beginning on September 5.
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